Our parallel account from the book of 2 Chronicles gives us an extra verse of information regarding the stands and basins we'll be studying here in 1 Kings 7. Their purpose is that "in them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing". (2 Chronicles 4:6b) In Exodus 30 the Lord instructed Moses to have a bronze basin manufactured and to place it between the tent of meeting and the altar. The priests were to wash their hands and feet in it every time they came to the tabernacle to go about their duties. The Sea in the temple is to be used for the same purpose, although yesterday we discussed the fact that we are not certain how they accessed the water in the Sea since it stood much taller than a man. We talked about how some scholars think there was a spigot or spigots at the base to release water for the washing of hands and feet. But this isn't the only type of washing that must be done at the temple. The sacrifices for the burnt offerings are to be washed in the ten movable basins. If I am understanding our text correctly, after the animals had been sacrificed the parts were washed in the basins before being placed on the altar for burnt offerings. This would line up with the Lord's instructions in the book of Leviticus when He said that the internal organs and the legs must be washed with water before burning the offering on the altar. References to this can be found in Leviticus 1:9, Leviticus 1:13, Leviticus 8:21, and in Leviticus 9:14.
Now we begin our look at the description of the basins and the stands. The "he" mentioned here is Huram of Tyre who has been fashioning the objects of bronze that Solomon commissioned to be made for the temple. "He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim---and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work." (1 Kings 7:27-29)
In yesterday's study we talked about Solomon's use of images in the temple in regard to the Lord's commandment against making an image of anything in heaven above or on earth below. If you missed yesterday's study you can scroll down below today's study to the archives and find it there. It is my feeling that Solomon did not sin in carving decorative angelic beings, animal life, and plant life because worship was not intended to be directed toward these carvings and cast-metal objects. The commandment against making images appears to deal with Idolatry (images intended for worship like a standing idol, for example, that represented a god) and not necessarily against carving, embroidering, painting, or casting images solely for use as decorative elements. However, as we noted yesterday, there are those who hold the opposite opinion and feel that the artistic representation of any living being, animal, or plant was a sin. The authors of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, in which we find the descriptions of the decorations of the temple, describe these images in a completely neutral manner that gives no indication whether the Lord or anyone else found fault with any of the designs Solomon chose.
"Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal." (1 Kings 7:30-33) I find it a bit difficult to read this description and translate it into a picture in my mind of what these stands might have looked like. Below I'm inserting an artist's perception of what they may have looked like with the basins (which we'll discuss momentarily) attached.
"Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape." (1 Kings 7:34-37) Solomon put a great deal of thought and care into designing objects of symmetry and beauty. We do not know the reasons he chose the specific design elements used in the temple and all its furnishings: the cherubim, lions, bulls, pomegranates, palm trees, lilies, wreaths of vines, and so on. But we can be certain that each of these elements meant something to him even though we might not know what each of them was intended to symbolize. I do not think Solomon just randomly chose any of these decorative touches, as in telling Huram, "Make sure there is carving on every surface. Throw in plenty of vines and palm trees." The temple was too important for Solomon to treat anything about its design or its furnishings in a casual, half-hearted manner.
Huram now makes the basins that will sit atop the stands. "He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple." (1 Kings 7:38-39) These stands and basins would have seen a lot of use as the people brought sacrifices for burnt offerings to the temple. It was necessary that there be more than one stand and basin. However, it was not necessary to have more stands and basins than the priests on hand at any one time could utilize. Ten is evidently the perfect number to handle the amount of offerings needing to be washed there. Not all the offerings brought to the temple were to be washed, just those intended for use as burnt offerings. A burnt offering was an offering for atonement but there were other types of animal sacrifices in which the offering was not offered up wholly to God. In those, the portions for God were offered up to Him, the priests would then take their allotted portions, and then the bringer of the offering could cook and consume the remainder with his family. There were offerings that did not include animals, such as offerings of grain and wine and incense. None of these required washing in the basins.
The Lord is holy and no one can stand in His presence without clean hands and a clean heart. These ceremonial washings did not literally cleanse anyone of sin but the washings were to be performed in an attitude that acknowledged man's sinfulness, man's need for redemption, man's inability to redeem himself, and the Lord's ability to do for man what man cannot do for himself. The washings were symbolic but were accepted by the Lord as an admittance of their human weakness. The burnt offerings were not capable of cleansing the bringer of his sins once and for all but were accepted by the Lord when the bringer brought them in faith and in repentance. These offerings for atonement had to be brought time after time, year after year, until the offering was made that was so holy it was capable of cleansing man of his sins once and for all. Now we look in faith to the Lamb of God and at what He has done on our behalf.
No comments:
Post a Comment